Isaac Bell House [RI]

Description

The Isaac Bell House is one of the best surviving examples of shingle-style architecture in the country. The house was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead, and White in 1883 for Isaac Bell, a wealthy cotton broker and investor. After passing through a succession of owners, the Isaac Bell House was purchased by the Preservation Society in 1996, and is today designated a National Historic Landmark. The Isaac Bell House was remarkably innovative when it appeared in 1883. It is a combination of Old English and European architecture with colonial American and exotic details, such as a Japanese-inspired open floor plan and bamboo-style porch columns.

The house offers tours.

Kingscote Mansion [RI]

Description

Kingscote is a landmark of the Gothic Revival style in American architecture. Its appearance in Newport marked the beginning of the "cottage boom" that would distinguish the town as a veritable laboratory for the design of picturesque houses throughout the 19th century. In 1839 Southern planter George Noble Jones commissioned architect Richard Upjohn to design a summer cottage along a country road, known as Bellevue Avenue, on the outskirts of town. Upjohn created a highly original "cottage orne," or ornamental cottage, in the Gothic Revival style. The general effect was romantic—a fanciful composition of towers, windows, Gothic arches, and porch roofs inspired by medieval tournament tents. At the outbreak of the Civil War, the Jones family left Newport never to return, and the house was sold in 1864 to China Trade merchant William Henry King. His nephew David took over the house in 1876, and several years later decided to enlarge Kingscote. He engaged the firm of McKim, Mead, and White to make the renovations, including the new dining room. The room combines Colonial American details with exotic ornament—reflecting the architects' interest in combining eastern and western motifs. The innovative use of materials was also important, such as cork tiles as a covering for the wall frieze and ceiling, and an early installation of opalescent glass bricks by Louis Comfort Tiffany. The house remained in the King family until 1972, when the last descendant left it to the Preservation Society. Today, Kingscote is a National Historic Landmark. It is a rare example of a Gothic Revival house and landscape setting preserved intact with original family collections.

The house offers tours.

Chateau-sur-Mer [RI]

Description

Chateau-sur-Mer is a landmark of High Victorian architecture, furniture, wallpapers, ceramics, and stenciling. It was the most palatial residence in Newport from its completion in 1852 until the appearance of the Vanderbilt houses in the 1890s. It was the scene of memorable entertainments, from the "Fete Champetre," an elaborate country picnic for over two thousand guests held in 1857, to the debutante ball for Miss Edith Wetmore in 1889. Chateau-sur-Mer's grand scale and lavish parties ushered in the Gilded Age of Newport. Chateau-sur-Mer was built as an Italianate-style villa for China trade merchant William Shepard Wetmore. Mr. Wetmore died in 1862, leaving the bulk of his fortune to his son, George Peabody Wetmore, and a generous allowance for his daughter, Annie Derby Wetmore. George married Edith Keteltas in 1869. During the 1870s, the young couple departed on an extended trip to Europe, leaving architect Richard Morris Hunt to remodel and redecorate the house in the Second Empire French style. As a result, Chateau-sur-Mer displays most of the major design trends of the last half of the 19th century.

The house offers tours.

Green Animals Topiary Garden [RI]

Description

This small country estate in Portsmouth was purchased in 1877 by Thomas E. Brayton (1844–1939), Treasurer of the Union Cotton Manufacturing Company in Fall River, Massachusetts. It consisted of seven acres of land, a white clapboard summer residence, farm outbuildings, a pasture, and a vegetable garden. Gardener Joseph Carreiro, superintendent of the property from 1905 to 1945, and his son-in-law, George Mendonca, superintendent until 1985, were responsible for creating the topiaries. There are 80 pieces of topiary throughout the gardens, including 21 animals and birds in addition to geometric figures and ornamental designs, sculpted from California privet, yew, and English boxwood. Green Animals is the oldest and most northern topiary garden in the United States. Mr. Brayton's daughter Alice gave the estate its name because of the profusion of "green animals." She made the estate her permanent residence in 1939. Upon her death in 1972, at the age of 94, Miss Brayton left Green Animals to The Preservation Society of Newport County. Today, Green Animals remains as a rare example of a self-sufficient estate combining formal topiaries, vegetable and herb gardens, orchards, and a Victorian house overlooking Narragansett Bay.

The site offers tours.

Rosecliff [RI]

Description

Commissioned by Nevada silver heiress Theresa Fair Oelrichs in 1899, architect Stanford White modeled Rosecliff after the Grand Trianon, the garden retreat of French kings at Versailles. After the house was completed in 1902, at a reported cost of $2.5 million, Mrs. Oelrichs hosted fabulous entertainments here, including a fairy tale dinner and a party featuring famed magician Harry Houdini.

The mansion offers tours.

Bennington Museum [VT]

Description

The Bennington Museum presents southern Vermont history through vernacular artifacts, fine arts, artifacts from the 1777 Battle of Bennington, and the decorative arts. Collection highlights include 19th-century glass, portraits by Ammi Phillips (1788-1865), and the largest number of publicly accessible paintings by Grandma Moses (1860-1961).

The museum offers exhibits, summer history camps, 90-minute curriculum-based thematic tours, one-hour curriculum-based outreach programs, traveling trunks, nature trails, and research library access.

An Introduction to Historical Thinking and Reading

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Woodcut, "Reading Lady," Sekka Kamisaka, 1909, NY Public Library
Article Body

This Flash movie begins by introducing history as a subject of study that requires thinking and asking questions. It then uses a case study about the opening hostilities in the Revolutionary War to show and explain historical reading and thinking. The movie includes historians thinking out loud about two primary source documents regarding the shots fired on Lexington Green on April 19, 1775.

Viewers simultaneously see the text and the comments and questions that historians make in response to that text (slides 5, 7). Longer, additional examples of historians thinking aloud and analyzing these documents are also available (slides 6,7). The narrator uses these examples to introduce and clarify four kinds of questions that historians ask: sourcing, contextualizing, corroborating, and close reading. With ten consecutive mini-episodes, the movie permits users to control the pace and choose to review or skip particular segments.

Lysander and Susan Flagg Museum and Cultural Center [RI]

Description

The Lysander and Susan Flagg Museum is the first museum in Central Falls history. It celebrates local history with a large collection of maps, newspapers, photographs, paintings, and artifacts. It houses the invaluable Gilbert R. Merrill Textile collection, and several paintings by renowned artist Lorenzo DeNevers. The Flagg Museum also includes a room dedicated to local veterans.

The museum offers exhibits.

Hubbardton Battlefield State Historic Site [VT]

Description

The Hubbardton Battlefield State Historic Site is the location of a 1777 Revolutionary War battle. The battle took place between Burgoyne's British forces, who invaded from Canada, and the Green Mountain Boys of New England.

The state historic site offers self-guided tours of the battlefield, special events, and field trip programs. The website offers visitor information, a brief history of the battlefield, and a calendar of events.